The Shittiest Person In the World
The recent discovery sits in the back of his mind, sprouting questions, poking and prodding at his curiosity. He's already decided to ask around about it, find out more information. But that room or the answers related to it are not the priority right now. He has bigger issues to worry about. Like freeing himself and Hilary from Kai's clutches.
He knows that yet the mystery room and its absent patient pricks at his consciousness, making him restless in the lecture hall. That's not the only thing bothering him as he tries to steadfastly take notes right now either.
The fleeting moment of something that happened with Kai in his bedroom the other day niggles in the recesses of his mind too. Vying for his attention. Urging for him to think about it. His pen stops on the paper as he gives into the nagging memory for a second.
His eyes. The look in his eyes had changed. His grip on him had grown gentler. Not hard enough to leave marks for once. (Speaking of marks, Tyson has to hide his wrists under fingerless gloves because of the bruises Kai had left on them.
Son of a bitch.
Does he touch women like that too? If Tyson ever caught wind of something like that he would kill Kai.)
It was weird and Tyson doesn't want to think about the reason behind it.
Now if only he could stop thinking about the incident entirely…
"Granger!"
"Yes!" He sits up straight at the shout of his name.
"I asked you a question," says the professor.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that, sir," he says sheepishly. "Could you please repeat it?"
"Yes, but only because I'm in a good mood today. Any other day and you would have been packing your books already. Now less daydreaming and more paying attention to the class, Granger. I'm not here to teach your physical bodies. I'm here to teach your minds."
Tyson scratches at the back of his head awkwardly and apologizes again, vowing to be more attentive for the rest of the semester.
Kai is waiting outside the hall when the class is over. Tyson is surprised to find him leaning against the wall facing the doors. He straightens upon seeing Tyson and says to him, holding out his palm: "keys".
He blinks. Realizing that he'd kept the house keys with him again, so he could check out the room more thoroughly after lunch. He digs in his pockets and hands the item over to Kai.
"Make sure you return my keys to me every time immediately after your job is done," he says with a not so kind smile playing on his lips. "Don't make me ask for them."
Tyson gulps. Is he suspicious? Does he know? Did he check the surveillance cameras in the house? But why would he randomly decide to check them?
There's no way he knows what Tyson's been up to.
Kai raises a brow when he remains silent. Tyson is forced to give an answer.
He shrugs. Nods. "Okay"
His eyes linger on him, studying his face. He is definitely suspicious. And Tyson has no idea what he did to set his alarms off.
"Come with me," he says, turning on his heel. Tyson follows with his heart knocking against his ribcage.
He takes him to the library for seminar prep. He has to do one tomorrow and he's short on time. And this makes Tyson distractedly wonder about how Kai spends his time. That bold declaration he'd made to that pink haired freshman on the stairs yesterday was not a complete truth. Tyson does spend around 15 hours of his day with Kai sometimes, but most days he doesn't see him all that much.
He sees him for short amounts of time randomly throughout the day. Tyson knows Kai regularly attends his classes unlike Tala or Bryan who habitually skips them. Kai is studious. He takes his education seriously. So Tyson knows about Kai's whereabouts during mornings and afternoons on weekdays.
But the nights?
They're unpredictable. Sometimes he's home studying or working out, sometimes he's at a party at his own house or at a friend's or fraternity's, sometimes he's out doing lord knows what.
There are nights when Kai doesn't contact Tyson at all.
There are whole weekends when he doesn't glimpse his face for even a second.
And Tyson's suddenly extremely curious about Kai's activities. He was well aware of the seminar but put off preparing for it till the last minute. Why? What has he been doing instead?
Kai drops a book on the table loudly earning a few irked looks from the nearby students and the librarian. It gets Tyson's attention. He glances at him stunned.
"Where do you keep going?" asks Kai, scowling lightly. "I've called your name like five times."
Oh he's pissed.
"N-nowhere" Tyson offers an awkward smile. He realizes he's been doing this literally the whole day. He thinks he skipped his coffee that morning.
"I'm not reading it out loud again, copy it down," says Kai, pushing the open book in front of him towards Tyson, indicating a line on the left page with his index finger.
Tyson's gaze falls upon Kai's hand before the line he's pointing to. There's nothing unusual about them. He simply notes that his fingers are long, tanned, tatted, with a silver ring on one of them.
They're nice to look at unlike Tyson's. His fingers are short and stubby.
He focuses on the sentence he's supposed to be writing down before Kai catches him staring.
A few minutes of peaceful, diligent note taking passes then Kai decides to make a comment. An advice if you will that ruins the flimsy illusion of peace between them.
"You know you could write much faster if you took your gloves off."
Tyson pauses, a hot flash of something going through him. His first instinct is to lie, before he remembers who's asking him to take his gloves off. That it's the same person who put those marks on his skin. The reason he has to wear them in the first place. He looks up at Kai, chin up high, and removes the fabric covering his hands and wrists.
Kai meets his gaze coolly, then glances down at his hands. Tyson notes the exact moment Kai registers the bruises, recognizes what they are, what caused it and shame comes over his features for a brief moment.
His gaze drops, sweeping lashes hiding his eyes and the emotion in them. Guilt. So he's capable of feeling it.
Tyson picks up the pen and resumes writing again. There's no one other than Kai close enough to see his bruises so it's fine. His wrists can breathe for now.
Silence sits in the space between them. Hanging thickly over the table filled with books. When he glances up again after a while the expression of guilt has been washed from Kai's face. Either deliberately or naturally. He meets Tyson's eyes, and in his eyes he sees nothing but indifference.
Cool
Callous
He doesn't care.
Tyson grips the pen in his hand till his fingers are bleached of colour. Hate isn't nearly a strong enough word to describe what he feels towards Kai.
He's going to find that tape no matter what and then he's going to make him pay. For every wound on him and Hilary, both seen and unseen.
"Has any of the blitzkriegs been injured recently? Like broken bones? Needed a wheelchair?" He looks around at his friends. None of them have an immediate answer.
"Not any I know of," says Rick.
"Yeah I've seen a few black eyes and split lips over the years but never broken bones," says Mike.
"So you've never seen a wheelchair going into that house?" asks Tyson.
"Why? Has Kai beat somebody up?" asks Rick.
"No" He shrugs. "I'm just curious."
Eddie hums thoughtfully. "I haven't seen any of the Blitzkriegs, my guy," he says, "But I did see one of their grandmas visiting in a wheelchair once."
"Grandma?" Tyson asks intrigued.
"Yeah. She was like an old lady. I saw Bryan or Sergei - can't remember - bringing her into their house a few months ago."
"Was that the only time you saw her?"
"Yes"
"Was anybody else around?"
Eddie gives Tyson a puzzled look. "No. What case are you cracking, Sherlock?"
"Nothing, man." He sighs. Deciding to be honest. "I'm just trying to get some dirt on Kai."
"Ooh! I'll help!" Eddie says excitedly. Michael joins in too and they start coming up with ideas of espionage and begin joking around.
Tyson munches on his favorite ramen deep in thought as his friends get carried away by their own jokes. Someone's grandmother? But why would they hide their grandmother? And the sickly smell in that room wasn't faint enough for her not to have visited quite recently. As recent as last weekend even when Tyson didn't get any calls from Kai and they didn't hold any parties either which is out of the ordinary for them.
There is someone sick visiting that house often, at least every 3-4 weeks, and it's someone the Blitzkriegs don't want anyone seeing or hearing about. Like a dirty little secret.
It cannot be just a regular grandmother visit. What if the person is not visiting on their own will but instead they are forcefully bringing her in?
Holding an old lady or ladies (what if it's not the same person every time?) hostage is sick behavior but not beyond the Blitzkriegs. Not beyond Kai. It's expected from him actually. Torturing old ladies to get back at someone he doesn't like is exactly the kind of evil thing he would do.
May be Tyson should check on his grandfather and see if he's doing alright. Not locked up in Kai's basement. Or…a bedroom upstairs.
He actually does call his grandpa and talks to him for about an hour, chatting about important and mundane things (but nothing about Kai), then he hangs up and decides to follow Kai that night.
What's special about tonight is it's a Wednesday night and Kai has never called on Tyson on a Wednesday night. He'd gone through his call logs and this is the one pattern that stood out like a sore thumb.
Obviously he's got to follow him, but super discreetly. If he gets caught it's over. He can say goodbye to ever breathing fresh air again. Or feeling warm sunlight on his skin.
Tyson breaks himself out of his thoughts. It's been getting harder lately. He's probably not getting enough sleep. Curse that bastard Kai for waking him up him at random hours of the night and messing up his sleep schedule.
Dick
His crimes are too many and too big for him to make up for it easily. It will take several years for him to repay Tyson. Several decades. Lifetimes.
The keys fall from his hand with a soft clink. Tyson curses as he bends to pick it up without getting off the bike.
Focus, he mentally berates himself. He needs to get his shit together or he's going to get caught.
His spine pulls taut with alertness as Kai exits the house around 7 p.m. Tyson watches from a distance as he enters his car and the silver Porsche smooths down the driveway. Once he's had a good head start and is close enough to follow but not close enough to notice he's being tailed Tyson starts his motorbike.
There's a car blocking Tyson's view and it's getting on his nerves.
Move, dick, he curses at him in his head.
He's tempted to honk at the idiot. His huge ass car is covering Kai's and Tyson fears he's going to lose him in the traffic.
How is he supposed to follow Kai if he can't see Kai? Please move. He calls upon God. He prays in ways he hasn't prayed since he was 9. He doesn't even go to church despite Grampa nagging at him. He prays now like the number one devotee, like he's not a sinner, not a regular bullshitter who's bullshitted one too many times to get out of religious practices.
Please. Move. You dick.
He moves. Finally. And Tyson thanks God and zooms around cars till he spots the glittering Porsche and continues tailing at a safe distance.
A care home. Why is he going to a care home? Tyson's heart thuds in his chest as he follows Kai all the way to a large, sophisticated institution for people with special needs.
A voice in his head tells him that he shouldn't do this. That it's somehow wrong. That he'd probably regret this later.
But he chooses not to listen.
He parks his bike a block away and switches off the engine, then carries ahead on foot. Kai enters the building, the doors opening for him easily. Tyson slinks after him, sticking to the corners and slips in without difficulty.
As he hides behind a newspaper and watches Kai talk to the lady at the front desk, he gets that feeling in his gut again. Telling him not to do it. To turn around and go back home. Kai signs his name in a register and the lady gives him a key card which he uses to access the inner doors behind which only patients and family are allowed.
This is his last chance to go back. To listen to the voice of reason in his head. But he needs to find out. He needs to know. If he returns now he'd beat himself up over it tomorrow for giving up like a chicken and not following Kai. Besides getting caught there's no other reason for him to not do this, he tells himself.
The lady drops a pen and she ducks under the desk to retrieve it. The doors are still open, taking time to close. Tyson sees his opportunity, says fuck it and slides through.
Kai walks down a long corridor full of rooms and Tyson tiptoes after him, hiding behind open doors and plants when Kai's head turns to the side to look at something every now and then.
He rounds another corner after a few minutes and when Tyson peeks around it he sees that the corridor cuts off there and only one room lies that way. The door is closed. There's an unstaffed desk outside and Kai patiently waits there.
Tyson's feeling invisible as he slides along the wall and behind a tall plant. He grips the stem to anchor himself and quiet his wildly beating heart. But he ends up yelping in pain when something pointy pricks his finger. "Fuck" he hisses, and clamps his lips shut to keep more sounds from escaping.
He sees Kai swiveling around.
He's dead.
He's dead.
Tyson can't even look up, too scared to do so. His finger bleeds as he clutches it to stop the flow of blood. He sees Kai's boots heading his way and squeezes his eyes shut in terror.
His blood drips on Kai's boot.
He can feel the heat of his body as he stands near him. Can feel the rage radiating off of him. He doesn't say a word. Can't. When Tyson looks up after a few long, painfully silent minutes he sees blazing crimson red eyes that could put firestorms to shame.
Tyson can't think of any explanations either. All words fail him. His whole brain fails him. Footsteps echo as a nurse hurries up to them.
"Um, excuse me, sir, are they with you?" It's the lady from the front desk. She seems to have spotted Tyson sneaking around the facility like a felon.
Tyson glances at Kai who hasn't taken his eyes off of him once. Not even a fleeting glance towards the nurse talking to him. He's going to say no, Tyson thinks. He looks absolutely livid. He looks like he wants to remove Tyson from not only this hospital but from earth entirely.
And honestly? He understands. He'd want to remove them too if someone snuck up on him like this. His anger is justified for once.
He think he's going to say no but Kai surprises him by saying, "Yes". One word. Chilling to the bone. It's the most terrifying sound he's ever heard.
Tyson gulps as Kai heads to the room expecting him to follow. The nurse beeps them in and Tyson trails after Kai silently.
Vanilla. He'd smelled it in that room next to the elevator on the second floor as well. He recognizes the scent immediately upon entering the space.
He never should have followed him. He never should have come. Should have listened to his gut feeling, to the voice in his head telling him to turn back.
It was wrong, the voice had said. He would regret this.
He regrets it.
Tyson stands to the side, watching, as Kai prepares the bed and the tray of food for her to eat. Her fingers are slack upon the blanket, pale and motionless just like the rest of her. Except for her eyes. They blink tiredly, routinely, listlessly.
The only action she seems capable of till Kai sits beside her and brings a spoonful of soup carefully to her lips, nudging them till she opens her mouth and eats, her eyes slowly moving to rest on his face. There's a spark of recognition there or may be Tyson's imagining it.
Most of the soup goes into her mouth but some leak out the sides. Kai dabs at the corners, wiping them off, before scooping up another spoonful and feeding her after waiting a few seconds for her to swallow.
There's a name and some details on a board attached to the foot of the bed.
Mera Seto. 44 years. F. VS/UWS.
He doesn't need the name to know who she is. Traces of her old self still remain in the high cheekbones, the bridge of her nose, the shape of her mouth, the colour of her eyes as she looks up with a flicker of recognition at her son.
Tyson feels shame crawling up his lungs and strangling his airways. The guilt he feels thick enough to choke him. Kai spends another twenty minutes feeding his mother, then wipes her mouth and changes her sheets before refilling and stacking containers on the bedside table with newly purchased meds. He does all this without a glance at Tyson. He hasn't looked at him since they walked in together.
But his gentleness had disappeared as soon as his mother had finished her meal. His actions are brisk as he stacks her medicines. Tyson looks at the side of his face and feels his heart ache in his chest.
He's walking fast. Tyson has to rush to keep up as Kai strides down the ramp and into the cool night air.
He hasn't said a word to him all night.
"I didn't know," he says to Kai when he realizes that he's not going to stop walking. He halts in his tracks and turns around to look at Tyson. "I didn't know, okay? Or I wouldn't have followed. I'm sorry."
"Why?" asks Kai, tone scathing. "Because you feel pity for me?"
"No" says Tyson. "I don't pity you."
"Then what?"
"I'm saying that I understand. My mother died when I was born. I know what it's-"
"You" Kai steps toward him, voice low and menacing. "Don't understand shit about me or my life."
Tyson shuts up, reading Kai's gaze, seeing the anger and hurt in it. "I'm sorry" he whispers.
"You've never apologized for your crass actions before," says Kai. "Don't start now."
He walks away and Tyson feels his heart break. Tears fall from his eyes without preamble and he clamps a hand across his mouth, feeling like the shittiest person in the world.